KCB names top managers in changes

June 3, 2011

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By MICHAEL KARANJA, NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 3 – The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has named former Deputy CEO Peter Munyiri as the new Chief Business Officer in charge of the bank\’s Retail, Corporate Banking, Marketing and Communications, and Mortgages business within Kenya.

This is part of the implementation of the first phase of its restructuring process that has trimmed the Executive team from 22 to seven members.

James Agin, former Regional Director has been appointed as Chief Business Officer International, to be in charge of the businesses outside Kenya.

Paul Tikani, who was Director of Operations, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer and will head the bank\’s logistics, including transport and security.

David Kiprop Malakwen and Rose Kinuthia retain their positions as Company Secretary and Chief Risk Officer respectively. Paul Mutiso and Charles Maranga round up the executive committee as Directors for Audit and Human resources respectively.

The bank is however yet to fill the position of Chief Financial Officer with CEO Martin Oduor-Otieno saying it would be filled through external recruitment in the coming weeks.

"These appointments are part of the reorganisation of the KCB Group to align the functions in a move aimed at driving our strategy to grow our business, enhance customer service, create efficiencies in the business and manage our cost-income ratio better to increase shareholder value and make KCB an employer of choice," Mr Oduor-Otieno said.

Those in the listed positions report into the Chief Executive Officer and this announcement completes the first line of Senior Management appointments.

"The Bank will over the next fortnight make further announcements on the second level Senior Management roles in line with the new structure. These will cover roles reporting into those that have been announced," Mr Oduor-Otieno said.

A notable absentee from the team of seven is former Deputy CEO Samuel Kimani who, according to the bank "left under the Voluntary Early Retirement program to pursue other interests."

The transformation program that was implemented on recommendation of global consultancy firm, McKinney Rogers, is also expected to help the bank cut its operation costs by about 20 percent.

With operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Southern Sudan, KCB is the region\’s largest bank and with that comes increased operational expenses, which have in turn strained its cost income ratio.

In 2009 for instance, its wage bill stood at Sh7.1 billion which had shot by nearly 87 percent over that of 2005.

KCB\’s pay roll trimming is in line with that of other top banks that are coming off an aggressive hiring phase started in 2007 that was aimed at capturing market share.

MICHAEL KARANJA Michael is a Business Reporter. He is a graduate of Daystar Univeristy with a Degree in Communication (Electronic bias) and a minor in Public Relations. He considers himself easy going and loves engaging